A MAN has been cautioned for urinating through the letterbox of a house in Guildford in the early hours of Tuesday.

As well as using the letterbox, the 19-year-old also relieved himself in the doorway of the Walnut Tree Close home.

The incident, which took place at approximately 1.40am, was reported to the police and a description of the offender was circulated. He was located in the grounds of the University of Surrey and taken to Guildford police station where he was cautioned for criminal damage.

A force spokesman could not confirm whether the teenager was a University of Surrey student.

The event follows an ongoing campaign run by the university in conjunction with the police, which aims to encourage all late night revellers, including students, to go home quietly.

Silent Students Happy Homes (SSHH) partly focuses on Walnut Tree Close, which has seen a number of occurrences of criminal damage and antisocial behaviour.

Ashley Murray, vice-president for welfare of the student’s union, who is leading the campaign, said: “The SSHH campaign is going very well. Incidents on Walnut Tree Close have gone down a fair amount, I believe.

“They’re not always to do with students from the university – it’s other people around Guildford as well. We can assure people that we are working closely with police and local authorities to reduce the number of incidents.

“If residents do experience anything like vandalism they should report them to the university.”

Mr Murray declined to comment about Tuesday morning occurrence.

Colin King, who has lived in Walnut Tree Close for 23 years, believes that this year noise and vandalism there is the worst he has ever experienced.

From the beginning of September, he was disturbed by a number of things, including someone defecating outside a window late at night, with others swearing and encouraging him.

Describing a recent event, he said: “They got some stuff from a computer place down the road and threw it over the fence. A voltage reducer was thrown into the garden. It landed on top of our garden shed, which woke me up at 4am in the morning. If it had hit anybody, it would have killed them.”

Mr King added: “I think there has been an improvement. We haven’t had any incidents recently, although there has been quite a lot of noise up and down the road.

“I contact the university every time there is an occurrence. They always say ‘how do you know that it is the students?’ It’s because they go up the road and down the lane to the university. We live with it, but it’s something we could do without.”

Michael Eve who, like many other people living on that road, has given up repairing his car because he believes it could be damaged again, said: “I haven’t been aware of any change in the road, although it’s difficult to say.

“They’re obviously trying to do something. I hope that things improve.”

A police spokesman said the force is working with the Students Union and officers are patrolling the area. Antisocial behaviour leaflets have been distributed to all Walnut Tree Close residents.

“Local neighbourhood officer, PC Hermann Trepesch, is encouraging residents to report any disturbances or damage caused, so suitable action can be taken against the people responsible.”